Climbs upstream from "Miss Pacman" and "Gameboy" on river right and upstream of "Xanadu" on river left are closed until further notice as required to protect a sensitive, federally listed plant species. For more information, see: www.nps.gov/samo/upload/PublicNoticeCircleXRanch2010.PDF

This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project.You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.

Location

Protection

I met a guy last season who claimed that this route is mostly chipped. I was hoping to one day do this thing, but if its mostly manufactured that deters me a bit. I do realize this is echo we're talking about, the most lovable choss pile on the planet, and it is far from bullet stone, but I still prefer more natural routes. So, does anybody know the extent of chippage on this route?

Its definitely chipped. If "mostly" means more than half, then I would say its not "mostly" chippped. But there are more than a few chipped holds if my memory serves. I thought it climbed really nice, but like many chipped routes, it appears to have been fit to the FAs dimensions, which is kinda lame IMO. Still worth trying if you're in the area. Check the bolts first.

If the bolts are bad, do the community service thing and replace them before starting to work the thing. Yeah it might suck but if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. You could try to get the FA to do it or at least come up with the bolts but that seems unlikely.

Mono, isn't it usually the case that a chipped route is built to suit? Not that I would do it but if you are going to spend the time beating the rock down wouldn't you make moves that were fun for you? which usually means moves that you are good at as well. On another note, why chip a pocket bigger than you need to get your fingers into? This is pretty common from what I've seen, if the FA had small fingers and the route has pockets or slots and you have fat fingers you may be screwed.